5°^ Drive Safely!
Enjoy the holiday, but
please d o n ’t drink
and drive.
Happy New Year’
Snow for 2004!
New Year s forecast
calls fo r cold and more
snow on Friday.
lív rtía n b O b se rv e r
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Established In
1970
‘Citv of Roses’
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • Number 53
-J/Veekin
TheRev¡ew
ta n a n a i r x n r l
Wednesday • December 31, 2003
Markets Quell Mad Cow Concerns
Safety rules
improved
U.S. Orders Armed Officers
on Jets
Amid a heightened state of alert
for terrorists, the U.S. govern
ment said Monday it will require
international air carriers in cer
tain cases to place armed law
enforcement officers on flights
over the United States.
France Finds No Proof of
Hijack Plot
Air France said flights between
Paris and Los Angeles resumed
Friday after investigators found
no evidence of a Christmas Day
terrorist plot to use an aircraft to
attack American targets.
Chinese Describe Escape
From Toxic Gas
Villagers were preparing forsleep
when the gas well burst with a
bang in Chongqing, China. Fami
lies dashed out o f their homes in
terror, struggling to breathe in
the searing cloud o f choking
fumes. Survivors gave harrow
ing accounts Friday o f the disas
ter that killed at least 191 people
in C hina's southw est, forced
41,000to flee and left a 10-square-
mile “death zone” strewn with
bodies lying in fields, road sides
and in homes.
Report: Saddam Says He
Siphoned Billions
Saddam Hussein has acknow l
edged depositing billions of
dollars abroad before his ouster
and has given interrogators the
nam es o f people w ho know
w here the money is, a member
o f the Iraqi G overning Council
said.
Mars Lander Missing
Scientists trying to find Europe’s
Beagle 2 Mars probe ruled out
weather problems and a faulty
onboard clock for its five-day
silence, but considered a new
possibility Monday - a crater that
may be blocking its signal.
photo by
M ark W ashington ZT he P ortland O bserver
Meat cutter Zan Tuck (from left) discusses the safety o f New Seasons Market's meat supply with butcher Adrian Hacker and
Thabiti Waters, a meat counter service clerk.
in organics and wellness-related than the rest of the meat industry."
products are getting their message
New Seasonsquickly generated a
out to the pub
letter from Rohter
lic— we know
and posted signs
My confidence level at its m eat
where our meat \
comes from, and is 100 percent because counters, inciud-
it's sate.
we’re a local business ,n8 thcConcordia
“ My c o n fi
store on North
dence level is buying from local
by J aymee R. Cun
east 33m d A v
T he P ortland O bserver
100 percent be ranchers, not these
enue, assuring
Local merchants are addressing cause w e’re a
consum ers that
consumer worries after the discov local business industrialized
the beef they’ve
ery of a Washington cow infected buying from lo distributors.
purchased is safe
with mad cow disease, a brain wast cal ranchers, not - Brian Rohter, president of
and answ ering
ing illness.
these industrial New Seasons Market
questions about
While the federal Department of ized d is trib u
------------ — the b eef’s pas
Agriculture is recalling some 10,000 tors,” said Brian
sage from slaugh
pounds of suspect beef, merchants Rohter, president of New Seasons terhouse to display case.
at local grocery stores specializing Market. “It’s completely different
At New Seasons and some other
Organic and
natural markets
confident about
beef supplies
local natural markets, beef is bought
from a rancher’s cooperati vein East
ern Oregon, where animals are never
fed animal byproducts, the believed
path of mad cow infection.
Many other markets, including
Safeway and Fred Meyer, are re
sponding to the mad cow scare
with a recall, asking customers to
return meat products with sell dates
between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30.
Meat from the stricken cow was
distributed primarily in Oregon and
Washington and in seven other
states. However, the risk of tainted
parts entering the food supply was
extremely low, authorities said.
Four Iranian Quake
Survivors Found
continued
on page AS
(AP) — Agriculture Secretary
Ann Veneman on Tuesday an
nounced a list of new restrictions
to further enhance the safety of
the American beef supply, includ
ing a meatpacking ban on the use
of sick "downer" cattle like the
one discovered last week with mad
cow disease.
She also an n o u n ced bans
against the use of small intestines
and head and spinal tissue from
older cattle in the U.S. food chain,
as well as changes in slaughter
house techniques with the aim o f
preventing accidental contamina
tion of meat with cow nerve tis
sue. Mad cow disease is spread
through such brain and spinal
cord tissue.
Under the new regulations, the
sick cow slaughtered in Wash
ington on Dec. 9 would not have
been allowed to enter the U.S.
food chain.
The meat from that cow was
allowed to be sold for human con
sumption after its brain and spinal
column were removed and a fed
eral inspector saw no indication
of neurological disease. From now
on no downed cow can be used
for meat. The Agriculture Depart-
mentestimates that 130,(XX)down
cattle are sent to meatpacking
plants each year.
The other new measures in
clude:
-Any animal tested for bovine
sp o n g ifo rm en c e p h a lo p a th y
( BSE) will not be allowed into the
food supply until test results are
confirmed. The Washington cow
was sent to meatpacking plants
continued
on page AN
Waterfront Job
Goals Unmet
Rescuers found a 12-year-old Ira
nian girl alive in the rubble of the
devastated city of Bam, Mon
day, followed by three men be
lieved dead who stirred in their
burial shrouds. More than 25,000
bodies have been retrieved since
Friday’s 6.6-magnitude earth
quake shook the city and sur
rounding region in southeast
Iran, according to a government
spokesman.
Minorities seek involvement
in new neighborhood
by
L ee P eri . man
T he P ortland O bserver
Four months ago local workers and contractors challenged the
Portland City Council to set goals for minority and women
involvement in the South Waterfront project, a gigantic plan to
build a new neighborhood of medical research facilities, housing
AIDS Infection Rises In
Native Americans
The remoteness o f many Ameri
can Indian reservations largely
protected tribes from the full force
of HIV and AIDS for years, but
that has begun to change. Indian
infection rates are 1.5 times that
o f white Americans.
and other businesses along the Willamette River south of the
Marquam Bridge.
The Portland Development Commission recently reported that
the development, backed by Oregon Health and Sciences Univer
sity and developer Homer Williams, represented “a unique oppor
tunity - 31 square blocks of development, worth well over $1
billion.
"The end result should be “not just to count noses at work
sites, but to shift to a growth in people ready, willing and able to
participate in this work force on an ongoing basis," PDC represen
tative Chip Lazenby said.
But Andre Baugh o f the Community Coalition, a group that
includes the African-American Chamber of Commerce and other
YEAR IN R E V IE W
Portland Observer Looks Back
May 14, 2003 — LaPryce Cheney is in tears as she stops by a memorial to remember her friend
Kendra James, the African-American motorist killed by police on May 5 while trying to flee a traffic stop
on the North Skidmore 1-5 overpass. A sampling of some of the top stories and pictures in 2003 from
the Portland Observer are inside on pages A2, A3 and A5.
continued
on page A2
I
minorities and women, are disappointed with the lack of a specific
plan for minority contracts.
The coalition wants 35 percent women and minority participa
tion in the Waterfront workforce at the end o f seven years.
“It is important to have ambitious numeric goals to get a high
level o f achievem ent," said Connie Ashbrook o f Oregon
Tradewomen and a partner in the minority coalition.
At the same time, Ashbrook said she doesn't want to get hung
up on the minority and women exact participation rates.
“I'm not so concerned with numbers as I am with seeing the city
make sincere, sustained, consistent effort, because it’s the right
thing to do. Women who pay taxes deserve a chance to get these
high wage jobs," she said.